ABSTRACT
To determine the frequency of hepatitis delta virus [HDV] seropositivity in patients with chronic Hepatitis B Virus [HBV] infection at Armed Forces Institute of Pathology [AFIP], Rawalpindi. Study design: Cross-sectional study. The study was conducted at department of Virology, AFIP, Rawalpindi. A total of 227 serum samples were collected at AFIP, Rawalpindi, from patients with chronic hepatitis B virus [HBV] infection along with a short history regarding the age, sex and socioeconomic status. Enzyme Linked Immundsorbent Assay [ELISA] for detection of HDV Immunoglobulin G [IgG] and Immunoglobulin M [IgM] antibodies was performed on all the collected serum samples. A total of 30 [13.2%] patients out of 227, were found positive for IgG. The mean age of the patients was 35.8 +/- 10.7 years. Seropositivity of HDV-IgG was 12.8% [25/195] in males and 15.6% [5/32] in females. 11.8% [6/51] of patients from higher socioeconomic group and 13.6% [24/176] in lower socioeconomic group were positive for HDV-IgG [p=0.728%]. Our study shows that 13.2% of chronic hepatitis B virus infected patients at AFIP, Rawalpindi, were positive for HDV IgG. HDV seropositivity was not affected by demographic variables-such as age, gender and socioeconomic status of patients